Justyn
Justyn was a hedge-wizard. He "practiced earth-magics, with a little touch of min-magic thrown in for good measure." (Owlflight, Chapter One) He had become a mercenary, joining Wolfstone's Pack, where he was mostly used his earth-magic to detect the location of enemy forces, helped with the wounded, and assisted the other mages in concealing their troops by magic. Not long after he joined, the company signed on with Captain Kerowyn to fight for Valdemar against Ancar of Hardorn. Justyn was young enough to foolishly crave excitement, leading him to volunteer for more dangerous assignments than would have normally come his way. Using his mind-magic on top of his already natural skills at archery, made him unstoppable with a bow. When his company was trapped behind enemy lines, Justyn fought in the rearguard action, protecting the retreating soldiers. When the last hurdle to safety was a single wooden bridge, Justyn held off Ancar's army's single-handed, while the others escaped. Eventually though, he ran out of arrows. He took an ax blow to the head, one he was lucky to survive. Unfortunately, the cracked skull damaged his already low-level magical abilities, rendering him nearly useless as a mage. It also scrambled his vision, leaving him unable to wield a bow again. He was thanked for his services, and dismissed from the mercenary company. The mage Kylliam, who had saved his life, suggested that he re-train as a village Healer. It wasn't just Valdemar's army that had been decimated by the war, Ancar had made a point of targeting and killing as many Healers as he could, and the smaller, more remote villages around Valdemar were left without medical assistance of any kind. Justyn trained bone-setting and herb-healing, learning everything anyone would teach him. By the time the war ended, he had mastered the skills needed by the average citizen. He volunteered his services, and was assigned to the village of Errold's Grove. He recognized Darian's Mage-Gift, and pestered his parents to allow him to train the boy. When Darian's parents disappeared during the Mage Storms, the boy was apprenticed to him. He did his best to train Darian, but between Draian's belief that magic was useless, Justyn's almost non-existent skills, and the way the Mage Storms had shattered and dispersed magical energy, it was an almost hopeless endeavor. Still Justyn persisted, until the village was invaded by the Northern warriors of Blood Bear Clan. Justyn took control of the villagers in their initial moment of panic, instructing them on how best to escape or to survive capture. He sent the villagers running, then took a post in the middle of the bridge leading over the Londell River into the village. When the enemy's Changechildren started across the bridge, he used his Final Strike to destroy them, and buying the villagers time to get away. Though they had shown him no respect while he was alive, the villagers understood his sacrifice. They eventually erected a statue of Justyn on the edge of town, facing across the bridge he defended. Description By the time Darian became Justyn's apprentice, the man had been living in Errold's Grove for years. He was described as: "...his hair and beard were gray rather than white, with a few streaks of darker color in them, and his brownish eyes, very sad and tired, were sunken so deeply beneath his shaggy eyebrows that it was difficult to see the wrinkles at the corners. He could have been any age from forty to ninety..." (Owlflight, Chapter One) In the series Justyn appears in the following work: * Owlflight, Darian's Tale, volume 1 Category:Characters Category:Mages Category:Mercenaries Category:Healers